Network-centric warfare
Encyclopedia
Network-centric warfare, also called network-centric operations, is a military doctrine
or theory of war pioneered by the United States Department of Defense
in the 1990's.
It seeks to translate an information advantage, enabled in part by information technology
, into a competitive advantage through the robust networking of well informed geographically dispersed forces. This networking—combined with changes in technology, organization, processes, and people—may allow new forms of organizational behavior.
Specifically, the theory contains the following four tenets in its hypotheses:
Network Enabled Capability
is a term used in the United Kingdom
and elsewhere for a similar doctrine. In Sweden
, one of the first nations in Europe to begin the transformation, the term, translated, is Network Based Defence.
The term "netcentric warfare" may be used interchangeably with the term network-centric warfare.
introduced the concept of a 'system of systems' in a paper of the same name published by the Institute National Security Studies. Owens described the serendipitous evolution of a system of intelligence sensors, command and control systems, and precision weapons that enabled enhanced situational awareness, rapid target assessment, and distributed weapon assignment.
Also in 1996, the Joint Chiefs of Staff
released Joint Vision 2010, which introduced the military concept of full-spectrum dominance
. Full Spectrum Dominance described the ability of the US military to dominate the battlespace from peace operations through to the outright application of military power that stemmed from the advantages of information superiority.
working with the Joint Staff in the Pentagon in the mid to late 1990s.
As a distinct concept, however, network-centric warfare first appeared publicly in a 1998 US Naval Institute
Proceedings article by Vice Admiral Arthur K. Cebrowski
and John Garstka
. The concepts were later given greater depth in the book, Network Centric Warfare coauthored by Gartska, David S. Alberts
(Director of Research, OASD-NII), and Fred Stein of The MITRE Corporation
.
Published by the Command and Control Research Program (CCRP), the book derived a new theory of warfare from a series of case studies on how business was using information and communication technologies to improve situation analysis, accurately control inventory and production, as well as monitor customer relations.
Starting with a series of premises on how the environment is sensed, UIAW posits a structure of three domains. The physical domain is where events take place and are perceived by sensors and individuals. Data emerging from the physical domain is transmitted through an information domain.
Data is subsequently received and processed by a cognitive domain where it is assessed and acted upon. The process replicates the "observe, orient, decide, act" loop first described by Col. John Boyd
of the USAF.
, also published by the CCRP. Power to the Edge is a speculative work suggesting that modern military environments are far too complex to be understood by any one individual, organisation, or even military service.
Modern information technology permits the rapid and effective sharing of information to such a degree that "edge entities" or those that are essentially conducting military missions themselves, should be able to "pull" information from ubiquitous repositories, rather than having centralised agencies attempt to anticipate their information needs and "push" it to them. This would imply a major flattening of traditional military hierarchies, however.
It is not yet clear whether the vision of Power to the Edge is realisable, although Alberts and Hayes argue in the book that the establishment of the Global Information Grid
is the first step to accomplishing it.
Power To The Edges radical ideas had been under investigation by the Pentagon
since at least 2001. In UIAW, the concept of peer-to-peer
activity combined with more traditional hierarchical flow of data in the network had been introduced.
Shortly thereafter, the Pentagon began investing in peer-to-peer research, telling software engineers at a November 2001 peer-to-peer conference that there were advantages to be gained in the redundancy and robustness of a peer-to-peer network topology
on the battlefield. Colonel Robert Wardell said "You have to empower the fringes if you are going to... be able to make decisions faster than the bad guy".
Network-centric warfare/operations is a cornerstone of the ongoing transformation effort at the Department of Defense initiated by former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
. It is also one of the five goals of the Office of Force Transformation
, Office of the Secretary of Defense
.
See Revolution in Military Affairs
for further information on what is now known as "defense transformation" or "transformation".
The US DOD has mandated that the Global Information Grid
(GIG) will be the primary technical framework to support US network-centric warfare/network-centric operations. Under this directive, all advanced weapons platform
s, sensor systems
, and command and control centers
are eventually to be linked via the GIG. The term system of systems
is often used to describe the results of these types of massive integration efforts.
The topic Net-Centric Enterprise Services
addresses the applications context of the GIG.
A number of significant U.S. military programs are taking technical steps towards supporting network-centric warfare. These include the Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) of the United States Navy
and the BCT Network
of the United States Army
.
Net-Centric Enterprise Solutions for Interoperability
(NESI) provides, for all phases of the acquisition of net-centric solutions, actionable guidance that meets network-centric warfare goals of the United States Department of Defense. The guidance in NESI is derived from the higher level, more abstract concepts provided in various directives, policies and mandates such as the Net-Centric Operations and Warfare Reference Model
(NCOW RM) and the ASD(NII) Net-Centric Checklist.
to Air Force
to Coast Guard
. This is part of the principle of joint warfare
.
The tenets of network-centric warfare are:
is the coordinating vehicle for establishing shared technical standards among NATO nations.
See also Partnership for Peace
for information on extending coordination efforts to non-NATO nations that are keen to support military operations other than war
activities, such as international peacekeeping, disaster response, humanitarian aid, etc.
Richard Cheney.
Harry D. Raduege Jr, director, Defense Information Systems Agency
.
(ADF) to embrace network-centric warfare is outlined in the document ADF Force 2020. This vision has been criticized by Aldo Borgu, director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). By developing interoperability with U.S. systems, in his view, the three arms of the Australian Defence Force could end up operating better with their sister United States services than with each other.
Network centric warfare is criticized by proponents of Fourth Generation Warfare
(4GW) doctrine.
Also, since Network-centric warfare focuses so much on distributing information, one has to be wary of the effect of false, misleading, or misinterpreted information entering the system, be it through enemy deception or simple error. Just as the usefulness of correct information can be amplified, so too can the repercussions of incorrect data entering the system achieve much greater non-positive outcomes.
One way that this can happen is through errors in initial conditions in an uncorrected, closed system that subsequently skew result-sets; the result-sets are then reused, amplifying the initial error by orders of magnitude in subsequent generations of result-sets; see chaos theory
.
Other possible failure mode
s or problem areas in network-centric warfare include the occurrence of the Byzantine generals' problem
in peer-to-peer
systems; problems caused by an inadequate or a shallow understanding of (or general disregard for) self-regulation, self-organization, systems theory
, emergent behavior and cybernetics
; in addition to this, there are potential issues arising from the very nature of any complex, rapidly-developed artificial system arising from complexity theory
, which implies the possibility of failure modes such as congestion collapse or cascading failure
.
US military and Department of Defense specific:
Military doctrine
Military doctrine is the concise expression of how military forces contribute to campaigns, major operations, battles, and engagements.It is a guide to action, not hard and fast rules. Doctrine provides a common frame of reference across the military...
or theory of war pioneered by the United States Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
in the 1990's.
It seeks to translate an information advantage, enabled in part by information technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
, into a competitive advantage through the robust networking of well informed geographically dispersed forces. This networking—combined with changes in technology, organization, processes, and people—may allow new forms of organizational behavior.
Specifically, the theory contains the following four tenets in its hypotheses:
- A robustly networked force improves information sharing;
- Information sharing enhances the quality of information and shared situational awareness;
- Shared situational awareness enables collaborationCollaborationCollaboration is working together to achieve a goal. It is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together to realize shared goals, — for example, an intriguing endeavor that is creative in nature—by sharing...
and self-synchronization, and enhances sustainability and speed of command; and - These, in turn, dramatically increase mission effectiveness.
Network Enabled Capability
Network Enabled Capability
Network-enabled capability, or NEC, is the name given to the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence intent to achieve enhanced military effect through the better use of information systems towards the goal of "right information, right place, right time – and not too much".NEC is envisaged as the...
is a term used in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and elsewhere for a similar doctrine. In Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, one of the first nations in Europe to begin the transformation, the term, translated, is Network Based Defence.
The term "netcentric warfare" may be used interchangeably with the term network-centric warfare.
Background and history
Network centric warfare can trace its immediate origins to 1996 when Admiral William OwensWilliam Owens (Admiral)
William A. "Bill" Owens was an admiral in the United States Navy and later Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Since leaving the military in 1996, he served as an executive or as a member of the board of directors of various companies, including Nortel Networks Corporation.-Early...
introduced the concept of a 'system of systems' in a paper of the same name published by the Institute National Security Studies. Owens described the serendipitous evolution of a system of intelligence sensors, command and control systems, and precision weapons that enabled enhanced situational awareness, rapid target assessment, and distributed weapon assignment.
Also in 1996, the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Joint Chiefs of Staff
The Joint Chiefs of Staff is a body of senior uniformed leaders in the United States Department of Defense who advise the Secretary of Defense, the Homeland Security Council, the National Security Council and the President on military matters...
released Joint Vision 2010, which introduced the military concept of full-spectrum dominance
Full-spectrum dominance
Full-spectrum dominance is a military concept whereby a joint military structure achieves control over all elements of the battlespace using land, air, maritime and space based assets....
. Full Spectrum Dominance described the ability of the US military to dominate the battlespace from peace operations through to the outright application of military power that stemmed from the advantages of information superiority.
Network Centric Warfare
The term "network-centric warfare" and associated concepts first appeared in the Department of Navy's publication, "Copernicus: C4ISR for the 21st Century." The ideas of networking sensors, commanders, and shooters to flatten the hierarchy, reduce the operational pause, enhance precision, and increase speed of command were captured in this document. Many of these ideas were further refined and developed through models developed by the consulting firm Booz Allen HamiltonBooz Allen Hamilton
Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. , or more commonly Booz Allen, is an American public consulting firm headquartered in McLean, Fairfax County, Virginia, with 80 other offices throughout the United States. Ralph Shrader is its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. The firm was founded by Edwin Booz in...
working with the Joint Staff in the Pentagon in the mid to late 1990s.
As a distinct concept, however, network-centric warfare first appeared publicly in a 1998 US Naval Institute
United States Naval Institute
The United States Naval Institute , based at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, is a private, non-profit, professional military association that seeks to offer independent, nonpartisan forums for debate of national defense issues...
Proceedings article by Vice Admiral Arthur K. Cebrowski
Arthur K. Cebrowski
Vice Admiral Arthur K. Cebrowski was a retired United States Navy admiral who served from October 2001 to January 2005 as Director of the Office of Force Transformation in the U.S. Department of Defense...
and John Garstka
John J. Garstka
John J. Garstka is the Assistant Director, Concepts and Operations at the Office of Force Transformation, Office of the Secretary of Defense, at the United States Department of Defense, and is a recognized thought leader in the area of Network Centric Warfare....
. The concepts were later given greater depth in the book, Network Centric Warfare coauthored by Gartska, David S. Alberts
David S. Alberts
David Stephen Alberts is an American Director of Research for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration .- Biography :...
(Director of Research, OASD-NII), and Fred Stein of The MITRE Corporation
MITRE
The Mitre Corporation is a not-for-profit organization based in Bedford, Massachusetts and McLean, Virginia...
.
Published by the Command and Control Research Program (CCRP), the book derived a new theory of warfare from a series of case studies on how business was using information and communication technologies to improve situation analysis, accurately control inventory and production, as well as monitor customer relations.
Understanding Information Age Warfare
Network-centric warfare was followed in 2001 by Understanding Information Age Warfare (UIAW), jointly authored by Alberts, Garstka, Richard Hayes of Evidence Based Research and David S. Signori of RAND. UIAW pushed the implications of the shifts identified by network-centric warfare in order to derive an operational theory of warfare.Starting with a series of premises on how the environment is sensed, UIAW posits a structure of three domains. The physical domain is where events take place and are perceived by sensors and individuals. Data emerging from the physical domain is transmitted through an information domain.
Data is subsequently received and processed by a cognitive domain where it is assessed and acted upon. The process replicates the "observe, orient, decide, act" loop first described by Col. John Boyd
John Boyd (military strategist)
Colonel John Boyd was a United States Air Force fighter pilot and Pentagon consultant of the late 20th century, whose theories have been highly influential in the military, sports, and business.-Biography:...
of the USAF.
Power to the Edge
The last publication dealing with the developing theory of network centric warfare appeared in 2003 with Power to the EdgePower to the Edge
Power to the edge refers to the ability of an organization to dynamically synchronize its actions; achieve command and control agility; and increase the speed of command over a robust, networked grid...
, also published by the CCRP. Power to the Edge is a speculative work suggesting that modern military environments are far too complex to be understood by any one individual, organisation, or even military service.
Modern information technology permits the rapid and effective sharing of information to such a degree that "edge entities" or those that are essentially conducting military missions themselves, should be able to "pull" information from ubiquitous repositories, rather than having centralised agencies attempt to anticipate their information needs and "push" it to them. This would imply a major flattening of traditional military hierarchies, however.
It is not yet clear whether the vision of Power to the Edge is realisable, although Alberts and Hayes argue in the book that the establishment of the Global Information Grid
Global Information Grid
The Global Information Grid is an all-encompassing communications project of the United States Department of Defense.It is defined as a "globally interconnected, end-to-end set of information capabilities for collecting, processing, storing, disseminating, and managing information on demand to...
is the first step to accomplishing it.
Power To The Edges radical ideas had been under investigation by the Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
since at least 2001. In UIAW, the concept of peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads among peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application...
activity combined with more traditional hierarchical flow of data in the network had been introduced.
Shortly thereafter, the Pentagon began investing in peer-to-peer research, telling software engineers at a November 2001 peer-to-peer conference that there were advantages to be gained in the redundancy and robustness of a peer-to-peer network topology
Network topology
Network topology is the layout pattern of interconnections of the various elements of a computer or biological network....
on the battlefield. Colonel Robert Wardell said "You have to empower the fringes if you are going to... be able to make decisions faster than the bad guy".
Network-centric warfare/operations is a cornerstone of the ongoing transformation effort at the Department of Defense initiated by former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Henry Rumsfeld is an American politician and businessman. Rumsfeld served as the 13th Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford, and as the 21st Secretary of Defense from 2001 to 2006 under President George W. Bush. He is both the youngest and the oldest person to...
. It is also one of the five goals of the Office of Force Transformation
Office of Force Transformation
The United States Department of Defense Office of Force Transformation was established October 29, 2001 in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. It now appears to have been disestablished....
, Office of the Secretary of Defense
Office of the Secretary of Defense
The Office of the Secretary of Defense is a headquarters-level staff of the Department of Defense of the United States of America. It is the principal civilian staff element of the Secretary of Defense, and it assists the Secretary in carrying out authority, direction and control of the Department...
.
See Revolution in Military Affairs
Revolution in Military Affairs
The military concept of Revolution in Military Affairs is a theory about the future of warfare, often connected to technological and organizational recommendations for change in the United States military and others....
for further information on what is now known as "defense transformation" or "transformation".
Related technologies and programs
Global Information Grid
The Global Information Grid is an all-encompassing communications project of the United States Department of Defense.It is defined as a "globally interconnected, end-to-end set of information capabilities for collecting, processing, storing, disseminating, and managing information on demand to...
(GIG) will be the primary technical framework to support US network-centric warfare/network-centric operations. Under this directive, all advanced weapons platform
Weapons platform
A weapons platform is generally any structure or system on which a weapon can be mounted. For example, a fighter jet is a weapons platform for missiles, bombs or autocannons. Other vehicles such as the Humvee are considered weapons platforms as well, such as for grenade launchers, machine guns and...
s, sensor systems
Sensor
A sensor is a device that measures a physical quantity and converts it into a signal which can be read by an observer or by an instrument. For example, a mercury-in-glass thermometer converts the measured temperature into expansion and contraction of a liquid which can be read on a calibrated...
, and command and control centers
Command and Control (military)
Command and control, or C2, in a military organization can be defined as the exercise of authority and direction by a properly designated commanding officer over assigned and attached forces in the accomplishment of the mission...
are eventually to be linked via the GIG. The term system of systems
System of systems
System of systems is a collection of task-oriented or dedicated systems that pool their resources and capabilities together to create a new, more complex system which offers more functionality and performance than simply the sum of the constituent systems...
is often used to describe the results of these types of massive integration efforts.
The topic Net-Centric Enterprise Services
Net-Centric Enterprise Services
Net-Centric Enterprise Services is a Department of Defense program, managed by the Defense Information Systems Agency, to develop information technology infrastructure services for future systems used by the United States military....
addresses the applications context of the GIG.
A number of significant U.S. military programs are taking technical steps towards supporting network-centric warfare. These include the Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) of the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
and the BCT Network
BCT Network
The Army will continue development and fielding of an incremental ground tactical network capability to all Army brigade combat teams. This network is a layered system of interconnected computers and software, radios, and sensors within the Brigade Combat Team...
of the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
.
Net-Centric Enterprise Solutions for Interoperability
Nesi
NESI, or Net-centric Enterprise Solutions for Interoperability is a joint effort between the United States Navy’s Program Executive Office for C4I & Space and the United States Air Force’s Electronic Systems Center...
(NESI) provides, for all phases of the acquisition of net-centric solutions, actionable guidance that meets network-centric warfare goals of the United States Department of Defense. The guidance in NESI is derived from the higher level, more abstract concepts provided in various directives, policies and mandates such as the Net-Centric Operations and Warfare Reference Model
NCOW
Net-Centric Operations Warfare describes how the United States Department of Defense will conduct business operations, warfare, and enterprise management in the future...
(NCOW RM) and the ASD(NII) Net-Centric Checklist.
Doctrinal tenets in United States
The doctrine of network-centric warfare for the United States armed forces draws its highest level of guidance from the concept of "team warfare", meaning the integration and synchronization of all appropriate capabilities across the various services, ranging from ArmyUnited States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
to Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
to Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
. This is part of the principle of joint warfare
Joint warfare
Joint warfare is a military doctrine which places priority on the integration of the various service branches of a state's armed forces into one unified command...
.
The tenets of network-centric warfare are:
- Tenet 1: A robustly networked force improves information sharing.
- Tenet 2: Information sharing and collaboration enhance the quality of information and shared situational awareness.
- Tenet 3: Shared situational awareness enables self-synchronizationSynchronizationSynchronization is timekeeping which requires the coordination of events to operate a system in unison. The familiar conductor of an orchestra serves to keep the orchestra in time....
. - Tenet 4: These, in turn, dramatically increase mission effectiveness.
Some architectural and design challenges
- The complexity of the Joint Tactical Radio SystemJoint Tactical Radio SystemThe Joint Tactical Radio System is planned to be the next-generation voice-and-data radio used by the U.S. military in field operations after 2010...
(JTRS) offers insight into the challenges of integrating numerous different communications systems into a unified whole. It is intended to be a software-defined radioSoftware-defined radioA software-defined radio system, or SDR, is a radio communication system where components that have been typically implemented in hardware are instead implemented by means of software on a personal computer or embedded computing devices...
for battlefield communications that will be backwards compatible with a very large number of other military and civilian radio systems.
- An April 10, 2008 GAO report (GAO FCS report) highlighted the scalability of the network as a major risk factor to the Network Centric FCS program. The proposed system will be unable to network all the units into one self-forming, self-healing network.
- The problem of coordinating bandwidth usage in a battlespace is a significant challenge, when every piece of mobile equipment and human participant becomes a potential source or relay of RF emissions.
- It is difficult to efficiently transfer information between networks having different levels of security classification. Although multi-level security systems provide part of the solution, human intervention and decision-making is still needed to determine what specific data can and cannot be transferred.
- Accurate locational awareness is limited when maneuvering in areas where Global Positioning SystemGlobal Positioning SystemThe Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites...
(GPS) coverage is weak or non-existent. These areas include the inside of buildings, caves, etc. as well as built-up areas and urban canyons, which are also settings for many modern military operations. Much work on reliable fusionSensor fusionSensor fusion is the combining of sensory data or data derived from sensory data from disparate sources such that the resulting information is in some sense better than would be possible when these sources were used individually...
of positional data from multiple sensors remains to be done. - Providing secure communications in network-centric warfare/network-centric operations is difficult, since successful key managementKey managementKey management is the provisions made in a cryptography system design that are related to generation, exchange, storage, safeguarding, use, vetting, and replacement of keys. It includes cryptographic protocol design, key servers, user procedures, and other relevant protocols.Key management concerns...
for encryptionEncryptionIn cryptography, encryption is the process of transforming information using an algorithm to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. The result of the process is encrypted information...
is typically the most difficult aspect of cryptographyCryptographyCryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties...
, especially with mobile systems. The problem is exacerbated with the need for speedy deployment and nimble reconfiguration of military teams, to respond to rapidly changing conditions in the modern battlespace.
International activities
There is significant need to harmonize the technical and operational aspects of net-centric warfare and net-centric operations among multiple nations, in order to support coalition activities, joint operations, etc. Standard AgreementSTANAG
STANAG is the NATO abbreviation for Standardization Agreement, which sets up processes, procedures, terms, and conditions for common military or technical procedures or equipment between the member countries of the alliance. Each NATO state ratifies a STANAG and implements it within their own...
is the coordinating vehicle for establishing shared technical standards among NATO nations.
See also Partnership for Peace
Partnership for Peace
Partnership for Peace is a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation program aimed at creating trust between NATO and other states in Europe and the former Soviet Union; 22 States are members...
for information on extending coordination efforts to non-NATO nations that are keen to support military operations other than war
Military operations other than war
Military Operations Other Than War focus on deterring war, resolving conflict, promoting peace, and supporting civil authorities in response to domestic crises. The phrase and acronym was coined by the United States military during the 1990s, but it has since fallen out of use. The UK military...
activities, such as international peacekeeping, disaster response, humanitarian aid, etc.
Supporting comments
"With less than half of the ground forces--former Vice PresidentGround ForcesThe Hungarian Ground Forces are one of the branches of the Hungarian armed forces. It is the army which handles Ground activities and troops including artillery, tanks, APC's, IFV's and ground support...
and two-thirds of the military aircraft used 12 years ago in Desert Storm, we have achieved a far more difficult objective ... In Desert Storm, it usually took up to two days for target planners to get a photo of a target, confirm its coordinates, plan the mission, and deliver it to the bomber crew. Now we have near real-time imaging of targets with photos and coordinates transmitted by e-mail to aircraft already in flight. In Desert Storm, battalionBattalionA battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...
, brigadeBrigadeA brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...
, and divisionDivision (military)A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...
commanders had to rely on maps, grease pencils, and radio reports to track the movements of our forces. Today, our commanderCommanderCommander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...
s have a real-time display of our armed forces on their computer screen."
Vice president
A vice president is an officer in government or business who is below a president in rank. The name comes from the Latin vice meaning 'in place of'. In some countries, the vice president is called the deputy president...
Richard Cheney.
"Net-centric warfare's effectiveness has greatly improved in 12 years. Desert Storm forces, involving more than 500,000 troops, were supported with 100 Mbit/s of bandwidth. Today, OIF forces, with about 350,000 warfighters, had more than 3,000 Mbit/s of satellite bandwidth--Lieutenant generalBandwidth (computing)In computer networking and computer science, bandwidth, network bandwidth, data bandwidth, or digital bandwidth is a measure of available or consumed data communication resources expressed in bits/second or multiples of it .Note that in textbooks on wireless communications, modem data transmission,...
, which is 30 times more bandwidth for a force 45 percent smaller. U.S. troops essentially used the same weapon platforms used in Operation Desert Storm with significantly increased effectiveness."
Lieutenant General (United States)
In the United States Army, the United States Air Force and the United States Marine Corps, lieutenant general is a three-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-9. Lieutenant general ranks above major general and below general...
Harry D. Raduege Jr, director, Defense Information Systems Agency
Defense Information Systems Agency
The Defense Information Systems Agency is a United States Department of Defense agency that provides information technology and communications support to the President, Vice President, Secretary of Defense, the military Services, and the Combatant Commands.As part of the Base Realignment and...
.
Contradictory views
The aspiration of the Australian Defence ForceAustralian Defence Force
The Australian Defence Force is the military organisation responsible for the defence of Australia. It consists of the Royal Australian Navy , Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Force and a number of 'tri-service' units...
(ADF) to embrace network-centric warfare is outlined in the document ADF Force 2020. This vision has been criticized by Aldo Borgu, director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). By developing interoperability with U.S. systems, in his view, the three arms of the Australian Defence Force could end up operating better with their sister United States services than with each other.
Network centric warfare is criticized by proponents of Fourth Generation Warfare
Fourth generation warfare
Fourth generation warfare is conflict characterized by a blurring of the lines between war and politics, soldier and civilian.The term was first used in 1989 by a team of United States analysts, including William S. Lind, to describe warfare's return to a decentralized form...
(4GW) doctrine.
Also, since Network-centric warfare focuses so much on distributing information, one has to be wary of the effect of false, misleading, or misinterpreted information entering the system, be it through enemy deception or simple error. Just as the usefulness of correct information can be amplified, so too can the repercussions of incorrect data entering the system achieve much greater non-positive outcomes.
One way that this can happen is through errors in initial conditions in an uncorrected, closed system that subsequently skew result-sets; the result-sets are then reused, amplifying the initial error by orders of magnitude in subsequent generations of result-sets; see chaos theory
Chaos theory
Chaos theory is a field of study in mathematics, with applications in several disciplines including physics, economics, biology, and philosophy. Chaos theory studies the behavior of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, an effect which is popularly referred to as the...
.
Other possible failure mode
Failure mode
Failure causes are defects in design, process, quality, or part application, which are the underlying cause of a failure or which initiate a process which leads to failure. Where failure depends on the user of the product or process, then human error must be considered.-Component failure:A part...
s or problem areas in network-centric warfare include the occurrence of the Byzantine generals' problem
Byzantine fault tolerance
Byzantine fault tolerance is a sub-field of fault tolerance research inspired by the Byzantine Generals' Problem, which is a generalized version of the Two Generals' Problem....
in peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads among peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application...
systems; problems caused by an inadequate or a shallow understanding of (or general disregard for) self-regulation, self-organization, systems theory
Systems theory
Systems theory is the transdisciplinary study of systems in general, with the goal of elucidating principles that can be applied to all types of systems at all nesting levels in all fields of research...
, emergent behavior and cybernetics
Cybernetics
Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of regulatory systems. Cybernetics is closely related to information theory, control theory and systems theory, at least in its first-order form...
; in addition to this, there are potential issues arising from the very nature of any complex, rapidly-developed artificial system arising from complexity theory
Computational complexity theory
Computational complexity theory is a branch of the theory of computation in theoretical computer science and mathematics that focuses on classifying computational problems according to their inherent difficulty, and relating those classes to each other...
, which implies the possibility of failure modes such as congestion collapse or cascading failure
Cascading failure
A cascading failure is a failure in a system of interconnected parts in which the failure of a part can trigger the failure of successive parts.- Cascading failure in power transmission :...
.
See also
- Autonomous logisticsAutonomous logisticsAutonomous logistics describes systems that provide unmanned, autonomous transfer of equipment, baggage, people, information or resources from point-to-point with minimal intervention...
- Battlefield automation
- Battlefield intelligence
- BattlespaceBattlespaceBattlespace is a term used to signify a unified military strategy to integrate and combine armed forces for the military theatre of operations, including air, information, land, sea, and space to achieve military goals. It includes the environment, factors, and conditions that must be understood...
- C4ISTARC4ISTARIn military usage, a number of abbreviations in the format C followed by additional letters are used, based on expanded versions of the abbreviation C2 - command and control.C2I stands for command, control, and intelligence....
- Fog of warFog of warThe fog of war is a term used to describe the uncertainty in situation awareness experienced by participants in military operations. The term seeks to capture the uncertainty regarding own capability, adversary capability, and adversary intent during an engagement, operation, or campaign...
- FingerspitzengefühlFingerspitzengefühlFingerspitzengefühl is a German term, literally meaning "finger tips feeling" and meaning intuitive flair or instinct, which has been appropriated by the English language as a loanword...
- Millennium Challenge 2002Millennium Challenge 2002Millennium Challenge 2002 was a major war game exercise conducted by the United States armed forces in mid-2002, likely the largest such exercise in history. The exercise, which ran from July 24 to August 15 and cost $250 million, involved both live exercises and computer simulations...
- Net-centricNet-centricNet-centric: : Participating as a part of a continuously-evolving, complex community of people, devices, information and services interconnected by a communications network to achieve optimal benefit of resources and better synchronization of events and their consequences.In military connotation...
- Network-centric organizationNetwork-centric organizationA network-centric organization is a network governance pattern emerging in many progressive 21st century enterprises. This implies new ways of working, with consequences for the enterprise’s infrastructure, processes, people and culture.- Overview :...
- Network Centric Operations Industry ConsortiumNetwork Centric Operations Industry ConsortiumThe Network Centric Operations Industry Consortium is an international not-for-profit collaborative organization, chartered in the United States, whose goal is to facilitate the adoption of existing and emerging open technical standards...
- Network scienceNetwork scienceNetwork science is a new and emerging scientific discipline that examines the interconnections among diverse physical or engineered networks, information networks, biological networks, cognitive and semantic networks, and social networks. This field of science seeks to discover common principles,...
- Peer-to-peerPeer-to-peerPeer-to-peer computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads among peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application...
- SensemakingSensemakingSensemaking is the process by which people give meaning to experience. While this process has been studied by other disciplines under other names for centuries, the term "sensemaking" has primarily marked three distinct but related research areas since the 1970s: Sensemaking was introduced to...
- Swarming (military)Swarming (military)Military swarming is a behavior where autonomous, or semi-autonomous, units of action attack an enemy from several different directions and then regroup. Pulsing, where the units shift the point of attack, is a part of military swarming. Swarming is not limited to the human military realm...
- Intent (military)Intent (military)Intent is a key capability in 21st century military operations and is a vital element to facilitate subordinates initiative , self-synchronisation Intent is a key capability in 21st century military operations and is a vital element to facilitate subordinates initiative (U.S Army 2003, para.1-69),...
US military and Department of Defense specific:
- Office of Force TransformationOffice of Force TransformationThe United States Department of Defense Office of Force Transformation was established October 29, 2001 in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. It now appears to have been disestablished....
- Net-Centric Enterprise ServicesNet-Centric Enterprise ServicesNet-Centric Enterprise Services is a Department of Defense program, managed by the Defense Information Systems Agency, to develop information technology infrastructure services for future systems used by the United States military....
- Joint Task Force-Global Network OperationsJoint Task Force-Global Network OperationsJoint Task Force-Global Network Operations was a subordinate command of United States Strategic Command whose mission is to: direct the operation and defense of the Global Information Grid across strategic, operational, and tactical boundaries in support of the US Department of Defense's full...
- Joint Functional Component Command for Network WarfareJoint Functional Component Command for Network WarfareThe Joint Functional Component Command – Network Warfare at Fort Meade, Maryland was a subordinate component command of United States Strategic Command active from 2005 to 2010. It was is responsible for coordinating offensive computer network operations for the United States Department of...
- Command and Control Research Program
- Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN)Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN)The Battlefield Airborne Communications Node is an airborne communications relay and gateway system hosted on a variety of aircraft that provides flexible radio connectivity across the battlespace for airborne and surface operators...
External links
- IDGA's Network Centric Warfare
- The OASD-NII Command and Control Research Program (CCRP)
- NCOW Wiki Network-Centric Operations Warfare Wiki
- Net-Centric Enterprise Solutions for Interoperability (NESI)
- NCW related article on Crosstalk - Defense Software Engineering Journal
- Army War College article: Principles of Warfare on the Network-Centric Battlefield
- http://www.globalsecurity.org
- NCW Topics on Defense Update
- C4I.org - Computer Security & Intelligence
- Ericsson white paper: C4ISR for Network-Oriented Defense
- Understanding Network Centric Warfare
- Launching a new kind of warfare
- U.S. Air Force prepares to fight in cyberspace
- THE IMPORTANCE OF NETWORK ENABLED CAPABILITIES FOR 21st CENTURY DEFENCE AND NATIONAL SECURITY Article by Air Marshal Subhash Bhojwani
International links
- Swedish Defence Materiel Administration, includes published technical documentation.
- NATO Network Enabled Capabilities (NNEC)
- NETWORKING IN THE INDIAN SCENARIO
- Information Warfare
- NCW specialized German-American IT Venture